Big Trouble, Little Necromancer Playlist (Patreon)

I'll update this as the chapters go up. Sometimes people like to know what songs I'm pulling from and I like explaining which versions I like best for some reason. (I love cover songs.)

Prologue: You Can't Start a Fire Without a Spark  is taken from Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen

Chapter 1: This is How We Come Alive. I apparently misquoted this lyric. I swear I double checked it, but I looked it up just now and NOPE. So it's supposed to be That's When I Come Alive. So I'll need to fix it. It's taken from Come Alive by Janelle Monáe. The first time I heard this song, I knew I wanted to use it in the third Sam book.

Chapter 2: Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault is taken from the Jawbreaker song of that name. I thought it fit really nicely with this chapter because Sam and Brid (and even Leo) is stuck in a situation that they all hate and are just trying to deal with it.

Chapter 3: The Evening Fell Just Like a Star is a line from a Tom Waits song called Please Call Me, Baby. I was originally going to use Call Me by Blondie, but I liked that the Tom Waits song hit on two levels, both the phone bit and the star imagery. Also, I just love Tom Waits. He was one of my favorite parts about the movie Mystery Men.

Chapter 4: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a line from Bury a Friend by Billie Eilish. I run trivia nights at a small local brewery for one of my friends every Tuesday, and about a week ago we tried a new round called Finish That Lyric. (Which was too hard and therefore flopped spectacularly.) I picked all spooky songs because it was a few days before Halloween, and Bury a Friend was one I picked. I read this lyric and paused on it and thought it particularly resonated with this chapter as Sam falls asleep in one place and wakes up in another and has no idea how he got there or what happened.

Chapter 5: On Sleepless Roads, the Sleepless Go is a line from Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World. It's a beautiful song that honestly depresses the hell out of me, so I don't listen to it often. I thought it fit because Sam is feeling pretty low, beat down, and exhausted at this point. And it's only chapter 5! Poor Sam.

Chapter 6: So Won't You, Please (By My) Be My Baby is from Be My Baby by the Ronettes. This chapter was difficult to name because Sam is basically just talking to the gnomes in the first half and the second half shifts to Brid. I thought this one would be kind of funny for now, but I might end up changing it later.

Chapter 7: I'm Not Crying (That's just rain, On My Face) is taken from the song I'm Not Crying by Flight of the Conchords. I almost picked Big Girls Don't Cry (the one by Frankie Valley) but decided it wasn't the right fit. I love Flight of the Conchords and I can't cut an onion without thinking of this song. There's a part that says, "These aren't tears of sadness because you're leaving me, I've just been cutting onions, I'm making a lasagna...FOR ONE." It makes me laugh every time.

Chapter 8: Well, I’ve Been Afraid of Changin’ is from Landslide by Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac. There are some decent covers of this song out there by the Dixie Chicks, Smashing Pumpkins, and apparently Bush, though I've never listened to that one. (Never a Bush fan, not that I was much into Dixie Chicks of Smashing Pumpkins, either.) But the Stevie Nick version is by far the best in my humble opinion.

Chapter 9: Jealousy, Turning Saints Into the Sea is from Mr. Brightside by the Killers. I remember listening to this song when it came out and it's got staying power. Still good.

Chapter 10: We’re Running with the Shadows of the Night is from Shadows of the Night by Pat Benatar. You can never go wrong with Pat Benatar. Besides having lyrics that matched with the chapter, I sort of liked pairing what is kind of a dark chapter with a sort of power anthem.

Chapter 11: You Know I'm a Dreamer, But My Heart's of Gold is from Home, Sweet Home by Mötley Crüe. A fitting chapter for Sam's return to his homestead.

Chapter 12: And Hey, You, Don't You Think it's Kinda Cute
That I Died Right Inside Your Arms Tonight? is from the song Arms Tonite by Mother Mother. I've been listening to this song quite a bit the last few days.

Chapter 13: I Ain't Evil, I'm Just Good Lookin' is taken from the song Feed My Frankenstein by Alice Cooper. I don't listen to a lot of Alice Cooper, but this song has always entertained me. (It's also in the Wayne's World movie.) I used one of his songs in NTS, too.

Chapter 14: If You Want Blood, You Got It is both a song and a live album by AC/DC. I feel like their songs often lend themselves well to chapter titles. AC/DC remains to be one of the best live shows I've ever seen and not just because the people watching was top notch.

Chapter 15: Blinded By the Light is by Manfred Mann and is one of those songs where even when you look up the correct lyrics it makes very little sense. 

Chapter 16: But Hidden in His Coat Is a Red Right Hand is from the song Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. (You might also know it from the opening of the show Peaky Blinders.)

Chapter 17: Listen, Do You Want to Know a Secret? is a Beatles song. This isn't the first time I've used a Beatles song despite the fact that I was never a huge Beatles fan. I don't hate them or anything, I was just never that into them.

Chapter 18: Movin' Right Along is a song from the Muppet Movie, sung of course by Kermit and Fozzie. I am a huge nerd for the Muppets and cannot *wait* for the Electric Mayhem movie. There's also a good cover of this song by Alkaline Trio.

Chapter 19: You Call it Crime (We Call it Smart Family Business) is from the song Bust Your Kneecaps by Pomplamoose. It's a song that always made me think of Ava and her crew, so I was delighted to use it here. I love the kind of old doo wop feel of the song.

Chapter 20: Your Changeling Song Takes Shape in Shadowtime is from Shadowtime by Siouxsie and the Banshees, a band I've never been able to reliably spell. 

Chapter 21: Homeward Bound (I Wish I Was) is from the song Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkel. I used to listen to Simon and Garfunkel a lot as a kid--my parents had their records on vinyl. Recently my oldest son, Bigs, has been listening to their music, and we were debating some of the lyrics for Me and Julio Down by the School Yard. Again, not sure what all of them mean, because the slang is lost on me, but it was a fun discussion.

Chapter 22: She’s Gone, She’s Gone, Oh I…(Better Learn How to Face it) is from the song She's Gone by Hall and Oates. I can't look at Hall and Oates and not think about this internet show I watched yeeeeeaaaars ago all about Yacht Rock that had two actors playing Hall and Oates as the edgy badasses and HAHAHAHA. I loved it. You can watch the first episode here. I have no affiliation to this show whatsoever, but I'm still quoting parts of it all these years later and want to share the joy.

Chapter 23: I Say a Little Prayer for You was written by Burt Bacharach (He wrote a ton of popular songs and has a name that is very fun to say) for Dionne Warwick. And her version is so lovely, a much more solo take than Aretha Franklin's one, which admittedly is my favorite version. You can't really top Aretha Franklin (No shade on Dionne Warwick, who is also amazing and I still like her version a lot.) It's one of those times when you can't go wrong listening to either version. This song was also recently in Sing 2 as a duet with Tori Kelly and Pharrell Williams. 

Chapter 24: There Ain't No Man, a Man That Can Change the Shape My Soul is in is from the song Ain't No Man by the Avett Brothers. I love it when authors mention songs in books--I think it can add a lot to a character, obviously. The art we love helps define us. It also helps me find new songs to listen to. I found this one in one of the Brooklyn Bruiser books by Sabrina Bowen, which is a hockey romance novel. Kind of a weird place to pick up new songs, but I'm here for it. I can't remember which book mentions this song off the top of my head, thought.

Chapter 25: We All Have a Hunger is from Hunger by Florence + the Machines. It can be hard to find songs that fit the combo chapters where it's Creature and one of the other characters, and in this case I think this song fits both very well. Both groups are hungry in a literal sense, but in other aspects of themselves as well. And really, Florence + the Machines are just so amazing.

Chapter 26: Bringing Sexy Back by Justin Timerberlake--I will admit, that I've wanted to have Sexy Gary in something again *just* so I could use this chapter title. The feeling of getting to do it did not disappoint.